Multi-hull boats such as twin hull catamarans, triple pontoon type hulls, and the like, have become increasingly popular over the last two decades. Multi-hulls have various benefits over conventional mono-hull boat designs such as having the air flowing through the tunnel between the pontoon portions which gives the boat lift off the water as the boat rides over the water surface. A popular type of multi-hull boat is the fishing boat catamaran, in which a 20 to 30 foot dual hull pontoon boat is powered by a gas or diesel engine. Unlike sport boats, the fishing boat catamaran has a cruising speed of up to approximately 20-30 miles per hour. At these speeds, problems occur when incoming waves entering the tunnel, thus decrease the air flow through the tunnel resulting in a misty spray of water coming over the front of the boat, a condition which has been referred to as tunnel sneeze. Furthermore, these incoming waves passing through the tunnels have been known to cause a pounding action which results in a bumpy ride for the boat passengers, as well as undesirable noise effects. Normally, the sport engine catamarans can overcome this problem by running at higher speeds than 30 mph. However, fishing boats that need to maintain speeds under approximately 20-30 mph continuously suffer from this "tunnel sneeze" condition.
There have been many proposals for hull configurations for multi-hull boats over the years. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos.: Des.217,032, Des. 217,033, and Des. 217,034 to Batham et al.; Des. 267,866 to Parsons; Des. 302,969 to Pipkorn; Des. 310,656 to Paine, Jr.; Des. 336,887 to Granie et al. Des. 348,039 to Kline; Des. 378,507 to Schafer et al.; Des. 382,850 to Schmidt; 3,137,261 to Noe; 3,316,874 to Canazzi; 3,361,104 to Glass; 4,004,534 to Allison; 4,348,972 to Parsons; 4,890,564 to Burg; 5,211,126 to Johnson; 5,611,295 to Stables; and 5,178,085 to Hsu. However, none of the prior art cited above or known to the inventor overcomes the problems with the dual hull catamaran "fishing" boat hull configurations.